PRAY

As you sit in silence, focus on God’s deep and abiding love for you. Try to become aware of God’s presence in an attentive way. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you recall your day with love and to let you look on all you see with love.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

READ

Galatians 5:16-26

16 I say be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires. 17A person’s selfish desires are set against the Spirit, and the Spirit is set against one’s selfish desires. They are opposed to each other, so you shouldn’t do whatever you want to do. 18But if you are being led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the Law.19 The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, 20idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, 21jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. 26Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.

Reflection:

Where do you see the fruit of the spirit in your own life? How might you better cultivate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? What does it mean to you to be led by the Spirit?

THANK

God, thank you for your gifts.

Now remember the small pleasures of the last day; things like a good night’s sleep, a good conversation, the smell of morning coffee, the laugh of a child.